Decision making in extreme events presents a difficult challenge to emergency managers who are legally responsible for protecting life, property, and maintaining continuity of operations for their respective organizations or communities. Prior research has identified the benefits of gaining situation awareness in rapidly changing disaster contexts, but situation awareness is not always sufficie...

This article explores human–robot interaction during a 16-hr, high-fidelity urban search and rescue disaster response drill with teleoperated robots. This article examines operator situation awareness and technical search team interaction using communication analysis. It analyzes situation awareness, team communication, and the interaction of these constructs using a systematic coding scheme de...

OBJECTIVE Fatalities and injuries during an earthquake can be reduced by taking preemptive measures before-hand, and furniture anchoring is an important safety measure for all residents. This study sought to clarify the factors associated with furniture anchoring within the home. METHODS A self-administered mail survey was completed from July to August 2010 by 3500 men and women between the a...

Abstract In the event of a disaster, municipal governments are expected to fulfil several responsibilities. However, owing organizational reforms, cost reductions, and workforce reductions experienced by Japanese in 1990s 2000s, they have arguably become incapable providing effective community-based administration. this context, questionnaire survey was conducted on employees coastal regions Ja...

Microblogging sites such as Twitter can play a vital role in spreading information during “natural” or man-made disasters. But the volume and velocity of tweets posted during crises today tend to be extremely high, making it hard for disaster-affected communities and professional emergency responders to process the information in a timely manner. Furthermore, posts tend to vary highly in terms ...

Although information is available to guide hospitals and clinics on the medical aspects of disaster surge, there is little guidance on how to manage the expected surge of persons needing psychological assessment and response after a catastrophic event. This neglected area of disaster medicine is addressed by presenting a novel and practical quality improvement tool for hospitals and clinics to ...

BACKGROUND In recent years, the term 'resilience' has gained increasing currency in discussions of emergency preparedness. This review identifies key concepts and explores the relevance of resilience for disaster planning and public health protection. METHODS A systematic review of literature on concepts of resilience, with a narrative summary of key relevant concepts for public health. RES...

Hospitals play a central role in disasters by receiving an influx of casualties and coordinating medical efforts to manage resources. However, plans have not been fully developed in the event the hospital itself is severely damaged, either from natural disasters like earthquakes or tornados or manmade events such as a massive electrical failure or terrorist attacks. Of particular concern is the...

Natural disasters including hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, and fires often involve substantial physical and mental impacts on affected populations and thus are public health priorities. Limited research shows that vulnerable populations such as the low-income, socially isolated migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFW) are particularly susceptible to the effects of natural disasters....